Annihilator
The Western Company Annihilator is an armed utility helicopter that appeared in Grand Theft Auto IV (and its episodes) and Grand Theft Auto Online. Design ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' The Annihilator is a military/police helicopter based on the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, specifically the MH-60L Direct Action Penetrator version, judging by its stub wings, which is able to carry four mounted weapons on the same wings (two in each one). Its livery is modeled after the US Custom And Border Protection's Office Of CBP Air and Marine Colors. It features a black body with a yellow stripe and decals on the same, which is operated by the National Office of Security Enforcement (Grand Theft Auto IV) and the Military (Grand Theft Auto Online). The helicopter comes with a set of four miniguns mounted on both stub wings that can be used by the pilot. Being made as a police-issued helicopter, a searchlight is fitted on the nose. The Annihilator's design is also comparable to that of the Raindance in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which is based on a variant of the real-life Black Hawk. It fills the attack helicopter role previously taken by the 3D Universe Hunter. Operated by the NOOSE (labeled as LC Patriotism And Immigration Authority) the Annihilator is the only armed Law Enforcement Vehicle in the game. It is occasionally seen patrolling the skies above Liberty City in single player mode, often over the East Borough Bridge and Hickey Bridge. ''Grand Theft Auto Online'' Visually, the Annihilator remains mostly the same as its GTA IV predecessor. However, it has gained some visual updates, like a red light that illuminates the passenger bay and a more detailed metal fuselage texture. There is also, like most helicopters, a night vision camera that allows a co-pilot to look through. For some reason, the numbers on the bay doors are removed and the L.C. section is ommited in this game. Current Design Gallery Version History Gallery Performance ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' and Episodes From Liberty City The Annihilator has the highest speed of all helicopters and, possibly, any vehicle in GTA IV, as the player can reach to a destination quickly. However, it is difficult to slow down and somewhat hard to maneuvre due to its rather large design, especially when travelling through buildings and when landing onto a busy street. While having average resistance at collisions and its cab is partially protective for the pilot and copilot, it is very vulnerable to weapons fire, particularly Rocket Launchers, assault rifles or other Annihilators, especially on the upper side, where a single magazine from a carbine rifle can damage the vehicle enough to burn and, then, explode. The RPG can completely destroy the Annihilator, or blast its tail off, forcing it to spin out of control. Annihilators facing other Annihilator's can do the same, especially when damaging the pilot. As said above, the Annihilator is armed with four side-mounted miniguns, which are difficult to aim and require reloading after prolonged fire, but are very devastating to people and vehicles, apart that these are supplied with an infinite amount of ammunition, although they stop when 100 rounds are fired, so the player would have to wait for two seconds or so before they can resume firing. The Annihilator is upgraded in The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, where it moves more quickly and fires explosive rounds instead of the regular ones seen in Grand Theft Auto IV. GTA IV Overview ''Grand Theft Auto Online'' The Annihilator differs a lot from its predecessor due to the upgraded aircraft mechanics in the game. In terms of performance, the Annihilator is now much slower and feels even heavier to handle, being comparable to the Cargobob (as a result of an increased mass), but unlike in GTA IV, that does not make the helicopter highly uncontrollable, even by travelling with the maximum forward pitch angle, apart that it is one of the steadiest when hovering, indicated by the airspeed indicator. Another advantage is the fact that it can now carry 2 more players, therefore being able to easily transport a team of 6 players around the map, being a useful transport for crews. As for its weapons, the miniguns fire at a much faster rate and, thanks to now having a crosshair (like other armed aircraft in GTA V), it becomes much easier to aim and hit targets with them, but its still relatively ineffective at longer ranges. They are, like in IV, normal minigun rounds, instead of the explosive ones featured in the episodes, yet that does not make them any less deadly against enemies, whether on foot or in vehicles. Despite the advantages, the Annihilator's speed and handling makes it hard to compete against helicopters like the Buzzard Attack Chopper and the Savage or the two fighter jets, the P-996 LAZER and the Hydra (especially when in hover mode), and makes it particularly vulnerable to the Homing Launcher. The Annihilator has a vertical climb of 300ft/min and a vertical fall of 350ft/min. GTA Online Overview Image Gallery ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' Annihilator-GTA4-beta-front.jpg|Early pre-release render of the Annihilator in GTA IV, with an all-black body and a different weapon configuration. gta4annihilatorhelicopter.jpg|Pre-release GTA IV screenshot of a similarly colored Annihilator airborne. Annihilator-GTA4-front.jpg|A NOOSE-controlled Annihilator scouting for the wanted player in GTA IV. Annihilator-GTAIV-Firing.jpg|Annihilator firing. Minigun-GTA4.jpg|The miniguns on the Annihilator. Annihilator-GTAIV-ForTheManWhoHasEverything.png|A group of Annihilators firing during For the Man Who Has Everything. Annihilator-GTAIV-Decals.png|Annihilator Decals. ''Grand Theft Auto Online'' Annihilator-GTAV-RSC.png|The Annihilator on the Rockstar Games Social Club. GTA Annihilator Legion Square.png|Annihilator flying over Legion Square in GTA Online. GTA V Annihilator Lens.png|The Annihilator's bugged lens. Annihilator-GTAOnline-Screenshot.jpeg|An Annihilator at Sandy Shores Airfield. Prominent Mission Appearances ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' * Seen in the mission The Snow Storm, where it takes part of the NOOSE's raid at the old hospital. * In Three Leaf Clover, an Annihilator appears in front of Niko Bellic, Packie and Derrick, forcing them to escape through the subway. * In both Out of Commission (Revenge ending) and A Revenger's Tragedy (Deal ending), Niko, Little Jacob and Roman Bellic will use one to chase Jimmy Pegorino or Dimitri Rascalov up to Happiness Island. ''The Lost and Damned'' * In Marta Full of Grace, an Annihilator appears along several FIB and NOOSE agents. * Appears during the chase in the mission Shifting Weight, after Johnny Klebitz, Malc and DeSean reach Middle Park East. * In Get Lost, a NOOSE team will arrive to the Alderney State Correctional Facility in two Annihilators. ''The Ballad of Gay Tony'' * In Corner Kids, an Annihilator deploys a NOOSE team on a roof and later, it will try to kill Luis Lopez, Armando Torres and Henrique Bardas, but Luis manages to destroy it with an RPG. * In High Dive, several Annihilatos will try to kill Luis. * Appears in the mission Frosting On The Cake, after Luis and Gay Tony reach the Algonquin Bridge. A police gunner attacks the vehicle, but Luis manages to destroy it. * In Not So Fast, two Annihilators will try to destroy Yusuf Amir's Buzzard. They must be destroyed. * In For the Man Who Has Everything, several Annihilators, along with Police Mavericks, will try to kill the player. ''Grand Theft Auto Online'' * In On Maneuvers the player must steal one from a military training. Locations ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' ;Singleplayer * On a helipad at the East Holland Police Station in Algonquin. It is watched over by LCPD officers armed with Carbine Rifles, but stealing it will only attract one star for vehicle theft, which can easily be evaded with the chopper. * On the helipad atop the Lower Easton Police Station in Lower Easton, Algonquin. * Can be found in Purgatory near the Golden Pier. Taking this will attract no Wanted Level, since no one is guarding it. * One in Francis International Airport in singleplayer. Taking this will attract a 4-star wanted level, as the Annihilator is in the FIA runway area. Mentioning that in GTA IV is scripted to set the search radar on it, one can't escape a wanted level of 3+ stars while flying a helicopter. * An Annihilator occasionally spawns on top of the MeTV building in Star Junction, Algonquin in place of a Maverick after the player shoots all 200 pigeons. * Spawn by dialing 359-555-0100 using the phone. This disables the Walk Free and One Man Army achievements, doesn't disable trophies in the PlayStation 3 version. * Can be seen flying near the many bridges in Liberty City, sometimes accompanied by a Police Maverick. ;Multiplayer * At the Helitours heliport. * Can be found in Purgatory near the Golden Pier. * On top of the Tudor Fire Station in Tudor, Alderney. * On top of the police station on the west side of the parking building in Francis International Airport. * On top of a building in The Exchange. * On top of a building in Castle Gardens. * Can be seen flying around Charge Island. * Three can be found at the heliport in the airport. * On top of the East Holland Police Station in Northwood. * On top of the MeTV Building. ''The Lost and Damned'' The Annihilator is very difficult to acquire in single player. It cannot be seen parked on any of the helipads in the city. As a result, it can only be acquired with cheats, or by sniping an Annihilator pilot flying low enough so that the helicopter won't explode upon crashing. The Annihilator remains available in TLAD's Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch. ''The Ballad of Gay Tony'' ;Singleplayer Again, the helicopter is difficult to obtain, but it might spawn on the same places as in GTA IV. ;Multiplayer * On top of the police station on the west side of the parking building in Francis International Airport. * One can be found at the heliport in the airport. ''Grand Theft Auto Online'' *Can be bought for $1,825,000 from the Elitás Travel website after reaching Rank 37. *Can be found on numerous helipads at Rank 37 and above. Trivia General *The Annihilator's minigun barrels do not actually rotate, as opposed to in real life; however, in the enhanced version of GTA V, they do rotate when fired. *Although the Annihilator has four M134 7.62 NATO miniguns, each has an unrealistically low rate of fire (ROF) of 200 rounds per minute (RPM). The ROF of all four guns is 800 RPM (13 rounds per second), comparable that of an SMG; in real life, each of these should fire at least 4000 RPM, with the helicopter's total ROF being 16000 RPM (266 rds/second) to 24000 RPM (400 rds/second) with all miniguns firing. However, when heard from a third-person view, it sounds as if the miniguns are firing much faster than during normal circumstances. The rate of fire has been increased in GTA Online. * Unlike other helicopters, like the Maverick, the Police Maverick, the Frogger and the Air Ambulance, the Annihilator's camera has a missing lens, only showing a black ball. However, when viewed from afar, the same lens appears. The best way to see this is moving away from it from the side of the helicopter until the LOD model is visible. ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' *In a pre-release render, the Annihilator is depicted with a single minigun on the nose and four fuel tanks on the stub wings, giving it a more military look. *During development, the Annihilator was painted black overall, with a NOOSE emblem. The final version includes a yellow stripe along the fuselage. *Along with the APC and Buzzard, the Annihilator is one of the few vehicles in GTA IV and its episodes to have mounted weapons. *Although the Annihilator has been updated on the PC version of GTA IV, the Annihilator has arguably faster miniguns and also has very high amount of damage output. The miniguns seen on the PC Annihilator do not exist on the console versions, therefore for making it harder to kill other players or inflict damage. Although the Buzzard's miniguns shoot at the same speed, they do not have the same amount of damage output when compared to the Annihilator on the PC version. *If players are fortunate enough to find an Annihilator that has crashed and landed, (blown up or not) running into the helicopter will give them an instant 1 star wanted level because it is considered a vehicle of the LCPD. **Like the Police Maverick, it will suffer the same glitch in that if the player leaves the helicopter, it will briefly gain altitude by itself. *If the player manages to get on the stub wings or in the tail rudders, he/she may fall, even if the helicopter does nothing. *The Annihilator in the final mission (A Revenger's Tragedy or Out of Commission) of GTA IV has unique properties: it has one back door closed and the helicopter has a unique warning sound. One can notice that the closed door has a slighty different texture and, if the player tries to save it at a parking space of a safehouse, the door disappears. /Out Of Commission.]] *The Annihilator is the only helicopter to have its tail rotor on the right side. Considering the rotor spinning, the Annihilator in GTA IV has the issue that both the main rotor and the tail rotor are pushing on the same orientation. This was corrected in GTA Online. *Entering the Annihilator in multiplayer automatically grants the player a RPG with 8 rounds. *In the mission Corner Kids (TBoGT), Henrique will mention the helicopter by its name ("Shit. They sent the Annihilator in"). ''Grand Theft Auto Online'' *Entering it gives the player a Sniper Rifle. *The Annihilator is no longer in use by the NOOSE but used for military training as seen in "On Maneuvers". However, it's still marked as a NOOSE vehicle, implying its use as a "military/police helicopter". *In GTA Online, the vehicle's decals ommits the L.C. marks and the numbers on the doors, similar to the Securicar's warning stencils. This can be noted at the sides, where it turns asymmetric when compared. * As of patch 1.17, the machine gun's aim is reset to a larger dot. This can be changed in the settings menu, though. See Also * Buzzard Attack Chopper - Another attack helicopter featured in The Ballad of Gay Tony and Grand Theft Auto V. * Hunter - An attack helicopter prominently featured in the 3D Universe. * Savage - Another attack helicopter featured exclusively for Grand Theft Auto Online as a part of the Heists Update. * Valkyrie and Valkyrie MOD.0 - Two attack helicopters featured in Grand Theft Auto Online as a part of the Heists Update and the GTA Online: Executives and Other Criminals, respectively. * Sea Sparrow - Another attack helicopter featured in the 3D Universe. * Police Maverick - Another Law enforcement-based helicopter. Navigation }} de:Annihilator (IV) es:Annihilator fi:Annihilator fr:Annihilator nl:Annihilator pl:Annihilator Category:Vehicles Category:Vehicles in GTA IV Category:Vehicles in GTA Online Category:Helicopters Category:NOOSE Category:Aircraft Category:Vehicles manufactured by Western Company Category:Law Enforcement Vehicles Category:Armed Vehicles Category:Military Category:Emergency Vehicles Category:Armored Vehicles Category:Helicopters Vehicle Class Category:Military Helicopters Category:Military Aircraft